


Initiation Under Fire

by docs_pupil



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Alien Invasion, Gen, Halloween
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-28
Updated: 2016-08-29
Packaged: 2018-08-11 15:42:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7898443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/docs_pupil/pseuds/docs_pupil
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor lands on Earth again, and finds himself and his companion, Jamie McCrimmon, in another "vacation turned vocation" situation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The grinding wheels of a dozen or so skateboards, roller blades, and maybe a bicycle or two roar around a street corner; all the riders clad in costumes, and carrying flashlights and/or neon glow sticks.

Someone on a skateboard dressed up like a Highlander, and carrying a camping flashlight and neon glow sticks around her neck, streaks pass the group, a pillowcase full of candy slung over the shoulder.

“Suckers,” the Highlander yells back to them.

“Get her,” an eighteenth century British soldier yells to the people behind him.

He, and a handful of others, give chase.

She deftly turns corners and avoids other people as she plays “keep away” with her candy. Knowing that they might catch her sooner or later if she kept to the lit streets, she takes a detour into the darker regions of a park. She takes to running to cut down on the noise of her wheels on the stony footpath.

“Where did she go,” one of the chasers in a knight costume asks, grinding to a halt on his skateboard.

The British soldier stops beside the knight and thinks. “She’s good, but not good enough.” He scans the surroundings, his eye catching the park. “Try the park. Search under every rock if you have to. Just get me her candy. She’s got the good stuff.”

His forces scatter.

“I’ll get you yet, Serenity Sparks. This year, I’m going to win that bet.”

* * *

A grating, whining noise disturbs the calm darkness of the shadows under the fluorescent glow of streetlamps.

* * *

The Lady Highlander sits on a park bench, taking a breather. “That was close.”

She searches through her pillowcase of candy and digs out a Butterfinger candy bar. Before she could open the wrapper, the three boys find her, and sound the alarm.

“We found Highlander Sparks!”

“Damn!”

The knight, a Roman soldier, and a World War One soldier chase her down a footpath, and between a small grove of trees.

She brushes random branches aside, running as fast as she can toward the exit. Sparks can almost see the streetlamp lit exit to the park, but a tall, blue door blocks her way. She runs face first into the abruptly opened door, knocking herself to the floor.

“Thank goodness we finally got the door open, Jamie. It seems to have jammed.”

“Oh,” the girl groans, rolling over, then getting to her knees. “That hurts like hell.”

“Wha’s tha’ noise, Doctor?” A young man with shaggy hair walks around the door and sees a figure clad in similar clothing to his. “Doctor! M’ clan is here!"

“Got you now, you bloody Highlander,” the boy in the British soldier costume triumphantly announces. “Now give me your goods!”

“What about your clan, Jamie?” An old man in a rumpled suit comes to his side.

Jamie draws his dirk, anger flashing in his eyes. “Ge’ away from m’ kin, y’ Bri’ish red coat.”

The chain mail knight frowns. “Damn. She got older people.”

“You win this year Highlander Sparks.” The boy turns to the three behind him after throwing his candy bag at her feet. “Retreat. She got some older college kids on her side. We don’t need wedgies.”

They all give a groan of displeasure as they throw their bags of candy at her.

Jamie and the Doctor look at each other, confused.

“Yes! Thank you!” The girl jumps to her feet, almost losing her balance as the different soldiers make haste in the opposite direction.

The Doctor catches her by the arm. “Are you alright?”

She gathers up the candy bags. “I’m fine now.”

“Here.” Sparks gives each of them a bag.

"This young lady is not your kin, Jamie. Her accent is that of an American."

“Would y’ le’ m’ see yare face," Jamie cuts in.

“Sure.” She removes the tam-o-shanter from her head and lets the light from her neon necklace shine on her face.

“A lass! In Highlander dress!”

She cringes. “Are you going to give me a wedgie?”

“No, we’re not going to give you a wedgie,” the Doctor clarifies. “But your nose is bleeding.” He gets out his handkerchief and hands it to her.

“Great,” she complains.

The Doctor helps her to a bench, as she tends to her nose. “Oh, by the way, what is the date?”

“October thirty-first two thousand eight. Why?”

He shrugs. “Lost track of time. And where is this place?”

“It’s Glasgow, Scotland.”

“She’s definitely not your kin, Jamie. It’s the twenty-first century. And it’s Halloween.”

Serenity Sparks concludes that they’re drunken college seniors who couldn’t get to their cars for joy riding. Although, the “old hobo” look looks too convincing to be a mask and costume.

“Och! All Hollows-eve!” The young man looks around suspiciously. “Mebbe we should ge’ back t’ Th’-“

The Doctor makes a slashing motion across his throat.

"Och!" Jamie nods.

Serenity eyes them suspiciously. “Well, I’m better. Thanks.” She hesitates on handing back the handkerchief, but he takes it anyway.

“Are you sure,” the old hobo asks her, helping her up.

“Positive. Just need to figure a way to get home. Bye, drunk seniors.” She hurries off in another direction.

“Drunk seniors? Wha’ does she mean, Doctor?”

“I think she thinks that we’re older teenagers under the influence of alcohol.”

Jamie checks his breath.

The Doctor feels his face. “Do I look that young?”

“Nae.”

* * *

"As Many As You Can Carry" is what the sign on the door says as plain as the red marker it was written in. You can bet that every kid with some sort of brain heard about that house with the giant pieces of chocolate, and no limit on what they could get.

* * *

“What the heck is that line over there?”

Serenity Sparks grinds to a halt behind a forming line in front of the oldest house in the neighborhood. She watches the people from the front walk away with smiles on their faces, and arms full of candy. She decides to join the queue in hopes of finding out what the smiling is about.

As her place in line reaches the front, she finally finds out what the line is about. "As Many As You Can Carry" is what she reads on the piece of cardboard taped to the door.

“Ooh, fascinating.”

She judiciously debates whether to do what the sign says, or have manners. Her manners win out, and she takes only one from the line of giant bowls sitting on top of foldout tables.

* * *

The Doctor and Jamie find themselves in the midst of a trick-or-treating frenzy. So many people: young, old, short, tall, dressed up in costumes, running to and fro between the neatly lined houses.

“We shouldnae b’ runnin’ around with all the spirits loose on Hollows-eve, Doctor,” Jamie nervously advises him.

“Nonsense, Jamie. Halloween is a time to have fun in this century. People still dress up in costumes, but it’s no longer to ward off spirits that wish to do you harm.”

“Ah dinnae believe tha’. Somethin’ could happen tonigh’, Ah can feel i’. I’s still Hollows-eve.”

* * *

Serenity eyes the grapefruit sized sphere of chocolate inside a clear, plastic baggie, tied with a piece of ribbon.

“I wonder where they sell this kind of candy? I haven’t seen this in any kind of store recently. Probably special order or something.”

She stops under a streetlamp to unwrap the chocolate. She sniffs it a few times.

“Wow! That’s chocolate!”

She takes a bite out of it; savoring the mouthful of smooth, rich, candy slowly melting in her mouth.

The sphere begins to crack.

She looks down, as it bulges where she took a bite. The girl’s eyes are fixated on the candy as a small hole is poked in the shell of the chocolate.

A thin, hairy leg pushes its way out.

She reflexively drops it out of horror, spitting out the pieces in her mouth. The candy breaks into pieces, and a black and red something rolls out onto street. The something stretches itself out.

“That’s sick; in a very bad way.”

A spider, no bigger than her fist, shakes itself, and then takes a defensive stance, staring her down. “Ha, ha," the spider squeaks.

Serenity furrows her brow.

It jumps at her.

She dodges the spider, and runs away, managing to hop onto her skateboard at the corner before it can take a chunk out of her from behind.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * = I’m not sure if this reference is right. Someone correct me if it isn't, please.

“Ah told ye, Doctor,” Jamie reiterates, rushing at full speed away from a handful of spiders either jumping or chasing after.

A girlish scream sounds in front of them.

The Doctor and Jamie turn the corner and run into the Highlander girl on her skateboard again. She tumbles into Jamie, knocking him to the ground, just as the spiders shoot strings of web at them. They tangle around the Doctor’s legs, and the spiders tug on the strings, tightening them.

Serenity gets off of the young man, and attempts to try to tug at the web being tied around him. Before she could get close, the young man grabs hold of her arm and pulls her away, preventing a lethal bite to her body.

“Get away, Jamie! Take her with you,” the Doctor yells, exerting himself on pulling or tearing the web off of him. “Go!”

Jamie leads her from there, holding tightly to her trembling hand.

* * *

“Oh god,” she chokes out through forming tears. Serenity leans against a shadow-covered tree, hanging her head. “What’s going on?! Why are there spiders all over the place hiding in chocolate?!”

Jamie keeps watch, his dirk drawn. “Ah dinnae know tha’, lass. ‘Re ye alright?”

“I’ll live, assuming I don’t get sucked dry by giant, mutant spiders who happen to come by.” She wipes away the watery film of her tears. “What about your old friend back there? What are you gonna do about him?”

“We need tae worry about ‘reselves first. Tha’s what he would do.”

She could see the hurt in his eyes when she mentioned him. “I think I’ve got an idea on defense. You got anywhere safe we could hide that’s close?”

“Follow meh.” He cautiously leads her through the foliage to the TARDIS. “Och! Th’ door’s stuck,” he complains out loud, wrenching at the door handle.

Serenity squeals, picking up her skateboard and swinging it near his head. “Hurry up! They’re coming!”

He struggles with the door for a while longer, as Serenity fights off the attacking spiders. “Go’ it!” He quickly pulls her in, and barricades the entrance with a chest he heaves across the room.

She stands in awe of the console room of the TARDIS. “It’s huge! But that’s impossible! I mean the outside is only a fraction the size of this room! How is this happening?!”

“Ye had a plan, lass. Wha’ was it?”

She stares at the room, oblivious to his words.

“Lass!”

“What?”

“Yare plan!”

“Oh yeah, right. Spiders. Well, spiders have eight eyes that are sensitive to changes in light and movement, and they also have a disposition to flee from sudden, loud noises. So we’re going to need to find some huge bright lights and speakers loud enough to have them run or get confused, even for a moment.” She looks around. “You got any…what do you call them here, not flashlights…torches, and…no, we’ll deal with that later.”

“In tha’ chest, perhaps.”

She hurries over to the chest holding the door closed, and begins rummaging through it, Jamie eagerly lending assistance. “Ha! Found something better!”

The door is shoved open a fraction. A spider leg pushes through the opening.

Serenity jumps back, fumbling with the neon light in her hands.

Jamie stabs the leg, making the creature attached to it scream, recoil and flee through the fallen leaves and trees.

“We should tread lightly when we get out of here.”

He nods his agreement.

* * *

“Doctor.”

The Doctor slowly opens his eyes, finding himself hanging upside down in the middle of a giant, sticky web. He tries to move his feet, but finds them tied together tightly, along with his wrists.

“Doctor.”

He looks around for the origin of the voice, finding only many pairs of glowing, red eyes coming closer.

“Who are you,” the Doctor calls out to the shadows, pulling at the binding web.

“How could you not recognize my children, Doctor? Do you not remember the Racnoss?”

A towering figure creeps up the web, until the dim light of the full moon, coming in from the skylight of the building, shines on the face of the speaker, and reveals a half human, half spider creature; its eight, lifeless, unblinking eyes staring into the Time Lord's very soul, almost. * “Your race destroyed us all in a war of your making!”

The Doctor keeps a stern composure. “Why now? Why Earth?”

“If I am to build up an army, they must have an abundant source of food. And one puny human on this planet could feed one of my newborn children.”

“There are only a few hundred thousand humans in this country. How many children are you planning to have?”

“Enough to take this planet over, and make this race into food for us all! And I’ll begin with you and your pathetic followers.”

* * *

“We can’t save them all! We have to get the smaller children away, first!”

“Aye!”

They lead as many children to a safer place as possible, hoping for the best with the others who were taken in front of them. Grateful mothers, fathers, and siblings take them away as fast as they can, locking themselves in houses, or sturdy buildings.

The two young people climb up into a tree, getting as high as they can from the spiders on the ground.

“They won’t stay ignorant about climbing for long, so we need to find a good place to start, so we can find your friend.” Serenity advises Jamie, looking down at the ground.

“It would b’ somewhere obvious. Tha’ sounds li’e somethin’ the Doctor--Ah mean, mah friend--would say.”

“Sounds clever. Obvious places.” She wracks her brain about all the obvious places regular spiders would show up. “There’s crates, ships, shadows, corners, trees, fruit…uh…”

“Old things, with dust,” Jamie adds.

“Old things with dust, too…uh…wait. Old things with dust.” She snaps her fingers. “That’s it! Where the spiders came from! The chocolates…we have to go, now!”

“Where, lass?”

“Did you happen to see an old, abandoned-ish, house at the edge of the neighborhood, with plastic and furniture everywhere?”

“Aye. Tha’ way.” He points to the west.

“Good.”

They shine their lights at the spiders clawing their way up the tree, causing them to clear a small path, to keep away from the light.

“On three, we run like the wind. One…two…three!”

They jump off from the lowest branch possible, and run westward.


	3. Chapter 3

“Climb,” she orders Jamie as she wards off the group of attackers behind them.

He deftly makes it up a trellis, on the side of the old house, leading to a balcony. “Come on, lass!”

As Serenity starts to make her way up, the creatures jump on her, and begin weighing her down. She kicks off as many as possible, climbing slowly.

Jamie offers her his hand. “Grab i’!”

“Just go without me! Go get your friend!”

“No! Ye helped meh thrice, now Ahm going tae help ye twice more! Grab mha hand!”

She swats at one more before doing what he says.

He hoists her up.

“Give me your weapon.” He hands it over, and she chops at the wood of the trellis until it falls, making the spiders jump off, or get crushed. “You know that hurt,” she jokes in a flat tone, handing his weapon back.

“Lass!”

She quickly turns to see him getting dragged off in a tangle of web. Before she could do anything, she’s blinded by strings of web, and is tied and dragged away too.

* * *

Jamie McCrimmon’s eyes flutter open to a landscape of darkness and strange noises. He finds himself stuck to a gigantic spider web, his hands and feet bound together with knots of more web. Jamie struggles as hard as he possibly can, but to no avail. “Lass,” the young man calls out into the darkness of the surrounding area. “Where ‘re ye?! ‘Re ye alrigh’?!”

The web begins to bounce up and down slightly. Jamie strains his eyes against the darkness above his head, seeing a figure creeping closer.

He struggles more, trying once again to break free, but some sort of liquid drops in his hair, prompting him to stop. Jamie looks up again, a bout of fear coloring his features.

Five giant spiders huddle around the trapped Highlander, almost daring him to scream, or move. Some of the liquid from earlier drops on him again, seeping from in between one of the spider’s fangs.

“Laird in heaven, help me,” he whispers to himself.

A scream sounds through the room, and then a brilliant yellowish, light shines in his direction. The spiders scatter, screeching their protest as the light moves around.

“Are you still alive, Highlander boy!” A familiar voice echoes from somewhere beyond.

“Ahm fine, lass! Where ‘re ye?!”

"Hanging from a cocoon of some kind in the middle of the ceiling! Where are you?”

“Tied t’ a web!”

“Hang on! I’ll get to you somehow! No pun intended!”

Serenity pulls some neon glow sticks from her belt, carefully keeping a sturdy grip on the rope of web attached to the ceiling. She wraps them around her waist, arms, and belt, before looking for a way down. The light of her neon flashlight shines on a newly spun web below, shining like small strings of suspended diamonds.

The broken cocoon suddenly begins to rise. Serenity looks up, shining her light at the spider creature pulling her closer to the ceiling. It lets go, scurrying away.

“Now I know there isn’t much time. They’re on to me. I hope the web can hold body weight. I bet it could.”

She takes a deep breath, then jumps. Once her feet hit the web, they stick for a second, and then she bounces high enough to touch Jamie, a ways above her.

“Whew!”

A net of newly spun web is thrown at her, and sticks her to the web near Jamie.

“Damn it!”

The spiders close in on the two of them as she struggles to get free. Serenity strains to get enough elbow space to get Jamie’s weapon from his belt. She manages to grab the handle and pull just as one of the creatures climbs over them, and poises to begin feeding.

“Don’t panic, Highlander boy.” Serenity warns, getting the weapon firmly in her grip.

One by one, like the steady plucking of chords, she cuts the net’s anchoring ends. A screech to make the ears bleed echoes all around from the now wounded spider with a dirk shoved through its closest eye. A heavy, flailing leg knocks her off the wall, and other spider creatures go to attack.

She falls through the web she bounced off of earlier, and lands in a pile of bodies, drained of their blood. Serenity wants to heave up chocolate candy, but is stopped short by some of the other creatures beginning a search through the graveyard of victims. She plays dead as best she can, quickly removing the neon sticks, and doing her best to ignore the smell of decomposition and a hint of ammonia.

High above, the injured spider is cornered, and torn to pieces by others of his kind. The mucky, green-yellow blood of the dying alien splatters near Jamie, wearing away the web like acid without the residual “sizzle-and-pop” sounds. He gets an idea of how to save himself, as he watches them distract themselves with the corpse of the wounded creature.

Once done, the creatures disperse heading toward the sound of orderly clicking and whistling noises. The acidic blood drains from the pieces of corpse leaving trails of burning web in their wake.

Jamie reaches over and manages to catch a few drops. As the knots of web slowly burn away, he pulls at them, finally having the knots snap apart.

A spider stands directly above her, searching every which way. Serenity holds her breath, trying to keep herself from hyperventilating. “Please go. Just go somewhere else.”

The spider moves on, unaware of her presence underneath it. The others searching follow the sudden noise of high-pitched whistling and clicking noises. She lets out an internal sigh of relief.

“Lass,” he zealously whispers, climbing down the web strung across the wall.

“Highlander boy! Over here!” She waves her arm for only a few seconds, mimicking his volume.

He stumbles toward her over the numerous dead bodies. “ ‘Re ye alrigh’, lass?”

“I lost your weapon. It’s still in the spiders-“

The sound of metal falling to a distant, stone floor prompts them to cautiously go toward it.

* * *

The great insect-humanoid that calls herself Mother of the Racnoss, bears her sharpened fangs more than ever, breaking into a sinister grin as one of her many children squeaks and whistles to her information of some sort. “It seems I now have your followers, Doctor.”

“Oh dear, poor Jamie.” He lowers his head, slightly, out of respectful sorrow. “Poor innocent bystanders.”

She boldly makes eye contact. “A young boy and girl it seems, both perfectly healthy and beautifully ripened to age.”

“No. Not that girl, too.”

“Bring them to me,” she immediately commands.

The few from the next room slowly make their way to the Queen arachnid creature, visibly shaking. They crouch low, as if to pounce on a body, and squeak for her attention.

“What is it you want,” she roars, seemingly irritated.

They explain something that happened, to her, which makes her even more irate than she already is.

She growls, kicking both spiders across the room with two of her eight legs. “How dare you let them escape?!”

The Doctor chuckles uncontrollably. “I had a feeling.”

“What is so funny, Doctor? I will find them,” she hisses.

“No, you can’t. If they were clever enough to escape you now, and long ago you were able to demolish planets and their populations, then they are clever enough to keep away from you even longer. So much for dividing and conquering.”

She bears her fangs, screeching some incoherent babble.

“What are you going to do, kill me? Poison me? Then you’ll never find them. My traveling companions know that if I’m caught in a trap, they should run as fast and as far as they can. Unless I tell them otherwise.” He laughs.

“Find them! Now,” she screams.


	4. Chapter 4

“Mha dirk.” Jamie picks it up off the cold, stone floor, looking around.

“I don’t see any mutant spiders anywhere close, so we’re safe for now,” Serenity says to him, locking the basement door. “Hear anything around, Highlander boy?”

He listens to the silence, keenly and intently. “They ‘re above us. Bu’ they havenae though’ us bein’ down here.”

“Good. And since this is the basement, it’s even better.” She starts looking through the boxes and bags scattered about the cement room. “Ha.” She throws back some plastic coverings, and eyes the revealed speakers with distant admiration. “I love parties.”

“Wha’ ‘re those, lass,” Jamie asks, walking to her side.

“These are perfectly resonated, deep base double speakers with reinforced oak casings to trap sound better and more precise. Built them myself, too,” she proudly adds with a smirk.

“Wha’?”

“These are what’s going to get us out of here with our guts still intact. Now, if you want to live, help me move these.” She opens a door hidden behind an empty bookcase. “This leads to the library in the center of the house. It’s just up these stairs.”

Together, they heave the five speakers, two turntables, and three sub woofers out into the stairs, through the shadowy, moonlit hall, with the streetlights weakly streaming through the dirty, plastic covered windows.

* * *

“Las’ one.”

“Good. Could you avoid kicking anything to watch the door on the other side of the room?”

He keeps a vigilant watch as Serenity mumbles and scurries about, wiring and turning on things little by little. “Lass, hurry! They sound close,” Jamie stresses, nervously looking around the ceiling at the increasingly loud scratching sounds above on the second floor.

“You can’t rush rushed wiring of a sound system. This would be a lot faster if you knew anything to help, but you don’t, since you told me already,” she retorts, carefully stepping around strewn about cocoons, looking for outlets.

“Ah can see them comin’ this way,” he nervously tells her, peeking through the crack of the door.

“Stall them then, if you’re so inclined to scare the crap out of me,” she shakily answers, concentrating on hooking things together.

“Ye’re crazy, lass!”

“I know. Isn’t it fun?” She plugs in the final cord, and adjusts a few switches, letting the crackle of stereo sound fill the room. “Aren’t Djs cool?”

The door to the room gets slammed open, and two very angry spider creatures stalk in, carefully avoiding the cocoons.

“Turn on yare contraption, lass,” Jamie yells to her, pulling his dirk from his belt as he backs away from the door. “Quickly!”

“Here’s the thing, I need music, or else nothing’s going to play.”

“Where is yare music?!” The Highlander gets in front of the girl, keeping her behind him.

“You distract them, and I’ll get the music, Highlander boy.” She dashes for the door near the corner, barely making it before one of the spiders could jump on her. Serenity locks the door, taking a quick breath of relief before running down the hall and into the basement, where she furiously searches through the packed furniture and such again. “Aha,” Serenity triumphantly announces.

A loud thump sounds at the main entrance to the basement.

“Oh, crap!” She runs back out, down the hall, and pauses at the door before throwing it open and making a break for the sound system. Before she can place the CD in the drive, she gets stuck to a string of web, and thrown across the room. Luckily, Serenity falls into a corner stacked with soft cushions and old carpets.

The creature stalks toward her, slowly and steadily.

She spies a cocoon close by, so, testing a theory, she waits until the spider passes the unborn carefully and delicately. Serenity snaps the CD in half and lunges for another beside her, threatening to slice the protective web open.

The creature protests in the squeaks and screeches.

“There’s your kryptonite, you ugly monster.” She heaves the unknowing baby into her arms, still threatening to cut it. “Let me go!” Serenity yells at it.

It stomps four of its eight feet.

She defiantly pokes the outer covering, grinning. “Oops.”

The spider protests, bowing its head.

“Are you going to let me go?!”

It stays perfectly still, bowing its head slightly lower.

“Now we understand each other.” She hurries out of the way.

It suddenly turns on her, bearing saliva-drenched fangs.

“Shoot.” She cuts the cocoon open and throws the putrid, green contents at the monster just as it goes to rear it self back up.

The spider lets out an ear-jarring scream, making other in the room cover their ears. It tries in vain to get the mucus looking embryo off of itself, but the acidic content of the hatchling burns at the covered are as of the creature.

Serenity Sparks makes a break for the sound system and succeeds in getting the music to play.

The spider creature pinning Jamie to the ground stops suddenly as the deep bass of the music thumping around the room throws it off balance. It falls over on its back, unable to roll over.

“HIGHLANDER BOY,” Serenity yells as loudly as she can over the music. “LETS GET OUTTA HERE!”

He gets to his feet, searching for his dirk. “MHA WEAPON! AH CANNAE FIND I’!”

“HURRY! THE COCOONS ARE VIBRATING TOO MUCH TO STAY IN ONE PIECE! AND YOU SAW WHAT IT DID TO THAT SPIDER!” She points at the deteriorating corpse literally meting into a pool.

* * *

The Queen of the Racnoss sniffs the air, a flash of fear gleaming in her dead, cold eyes. “My babies! What’s happening to my babies?!”

“I told you,” the Doctor taunts, innocently, smiling slightly.

“Silence, Time Lord! Or I’ll kill you now!”

“Humans are very resourceful creatures, you know. They have the amazing ability to cause enough damage to foul up any big plans you might have. Such as-“

“Silence!”

The Doctor shakes the saliva off his face. “You seem scared, your Highness.”

Before the Queen could bite the Doctor’s head off, one of the many exits of the room flies open, and the deep base of the music down the hall echoes through the room, bouncing off the walls, reverberating through the very skulls of the creatures confined within the walls.

They scream, cry out, screech, and make any other noises of agony possible. Even the ever-superior Queen of all she surveys succumbs to the power of high definition surround sound.

“DOCTOR,” Jamie yells over the music, running into the room. “DOCTOR! WHERE ‘RE YE?!”

“HEY! OLD MAN! WHERE ARE YOU?!” Serenity yells from behind him, carrying a cocoon in her arms.

“THERE HE IS!” Jamie points at an upside down Doctor, trapped in the midst of a giant web near a giant ugly, spider humanoid, writhing in agony, as she attempts to stumble out of the room.

“I’LL GO GET HIM!”

“NAE, LASS! AH’LL GO! HE’S MHA FRIEND!”


	5. Chapter 5

Serenity keeps a vigilant watch of his well-being as he braves the spider creature menace all around. He deftly climbs up to the Doctor and quickly cuts him free.

Serenity screams out of frustration as she tries to fight off a delusional mutant spider. She holds onto the unborn baby tightly as she fends off the flailing legs attempting to knock her off her feet as she keeps within close proximity of Jamie.

It manages to succeed, but stops short, smelling the cocoon. Unfortunately, a square hit to the back of her head causes her to loose consciousness and her only tangible protection to roll away.

“DOCTOR! TH’ LASS IS GOIN’ TAE BE EA’EN,” Jamie frantically points out, helping the Doctor down as quickly as he possibly can.

“GO TO HER, JAMIE! I CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF,” the Doctor tells him.

The dizzy, horribly balanced spider monster looks down at her immobile body and takes advantage of the unmoving prey, poising over her to feed. It bears its saliva-drenched fangs in a threatening manner.

Jamie’s dirk pierces the back leg of the creature, causing it to cry out and loose balance, falling to the side. He pulls her limp body out of the room, trying his best to get her to regain consciousness.

“Lass, wake up,” he pleads, gently slapping her cheek. “Lass!”

“Jamie.” The Doctor comes up behind him. “We must get away from here!”

“The lass is not awake, Doctor!”

“I’ll help you carry her.”

A spider unsteadily jumps at the trio, but crashes into the wall next to them.

“Quickly!” He grabs her legs, and Jamie picks her up by the shoulders.

* * *

Jamie and the Doctor lay an unconscious Serenity on the cold cement floor of the basement, the Highlander running to the door to lock it just in case.

The Doctor does an examination of her head. “She hit it very hard, it seems, but she can regain consciousness if she can get an adequately fight off her urges to sleep.”

“So she’s alrigh’?”

“I believe so, but we must keep a close eye on her.” He looks around the mildew smelling cement room. “Could you find me something soft to prop her head up with, Jamie?”

He nods “yes”. A minute later, he comes back with a worn couch cushion. They wait for a long while as the spiders scratch and claw above them, searching.

Serenity twitches to life, trying to say something. “He-“

“Hush, girl, you’re safe,” the Doctor reassures her, as she opens her eyes.

“How long,” she weakly asks, slowly sitting up.

“It has been a few hours since we’ve been in here, but-“

“No, since the music.” Serenity rubs her head. “Assuming it took you five minutes to find your knife, and the street lights outside are brighter, it’s been nearly an hour, and the music is going to stop playing very soon.”

As soon as her sentence finishes, the thumping of the base abruptly ceases.

“Told you.” She unsteadily stands, tripping over her own feet as she tries to walk to the other door.

The Doctor catches her in his arms. “You’d better sit, girl, or you might hurt yourself again.” He begins to sit her down.

She gently shoves him away. “There’s no time. You need to put more music in the turntable and blow the speakers before-“

Something large and heavy crashes against the door, cracking it slightly.

“Take me to the room, hurry,” she pleads, rubbing her head. “It’s through that door.” Serenity points.

“Ah’ll carry her, Doctor.”

“Very well.” He walks to the other side of the room.

“You are not going to be carrying me, Highlander boy.”

He ignores her and picks her up in his arms.

“I said don’t carry me! I’m not helpless!”

“Yare hur’, lass.”

“I’m not helpless!” She grimaces, rubbing the back of her head.

“He’s right, you’re hurt.” The Doctor looks up at the stairs. “Down this way, I’m assuming.”

“Up the stairs, to the end of the hall, then through the other door. But don’t rush in, it must be a nesting area. Just-” She rubs her head again, making an audible noise of discomfort.

“Hurry.” The Doctor paces up, cautiously peeping his head through the door. “There’s a terrible mess in this room.”

“Avoid the…the…um…” She looks blankly at Jamie.

“Cocoons,” Jamie finishes for her.

“No, the…um…green goop. It melts everything it touches.”

“Alright.” He daintily steps through the room. “That set of speakers in the middle of the room?”

She nods “yes”.

“What should I do to blow the speakers?”

“Best effect: re-tune the…um…”

“Speakers,” the Doctor suggests.

“No. The music to play deep house dance beat, and…”

“Play it?”

“No. Turn up the…bass, and…” She rubs her head. “I can’t think straight. I’m sleepy.”

“Whatever you do, don’t fall asleep. You…”

“Have a concussion. I figured as much.”

“Just-“ The Doctor suddenly gets jerked backward in a tangle of web.

“Doctor,” Jamie yells.

“Jai-“ He gets gagged by some more web.

“Let me go,” she says.

“Yare sick.”

“Your Doctor friend is in trouble.” She points at the ceiling, where the Doctor is suspended.

“Bu’-“

“Highlander boy,” Serenity pulls on his collar. “Get me to the…” She points at the system. “I’ll make it work.”

He agrees, just as three spiders creep out of the shadows. Jamie moves as quickly as he can, placing her near the speakers, and then draws his weapon, standing in front of the equipment. “Hurry.”

She begins to adjust the equipment, slowly and accordingly.

The creatures taunt a tiring Jamie and slow Serenity, lunging but never attacking, spitting but never harming. Then, suddenly, one of them steps back.


	6. Chapter 6

Jamie looks at it questioningly, keeping his defensive posture.

“I’m done, Highlander boy.” She taps him on the shoulder.

He gives her half his attention.

“Hold this.” She hands him a lighter.

He hesitates.

She takes his hand, and carefully presses it into his palm, positioning his fingers so the flame doesn’t go out. “I remembered something else about spiders.”

“Wha’?” He gulps.

“They don’t like extreme temperatures.” She unbuttons her dress shirt, as Jamie turns his head away, quickly. “Gimme your…knife thing.”

He holds the lighter farther out before himself before handing over his only defense.

She ties one end of her shirt to the end of his weapon. “Gimme the lighter.”

“Lass?”

“Do it. Before I forget what I’m doing.” He hands it over quickly, and she lights her shirt on fire. “Take this, and save your friend. I’ll stay and turn the music on.”

One look in her eyes told the young Highlander that there was no changing her mind about it. He reluctantly agrees with her, putting into action his impromptu plan on saving the Doctor.

“Hurry up,” she yells at him, as the flame of the lighter in her possession grows dim. “This lighter is old!” She rubs at her head again, leaning against her machinery.

He manages to scare the spider off of the ceiling.

The knot holding the Doctor high above his head loosens, and he gets his foot caught as he falls. “Mmmhhee! Hhah mmutkk!” He shakes back and forth futilely trying to talk through spider web.

“Don’ worry, Doctor, Ah go’ ye.” He holds the fire close to the rope of web, and it smokes before falling apart and unceremoniously dropping the Doctor to the floor.

“Uumph!”

“Jump out the window stupid!” She throws a chair through the glass of the nearest window. “The lighter just went out!”

Jamie throws the Doctor over his shoulder and jumps out the broken window discarding the flaming garment on his weapon.

The flame sets the cocoons ablaze in a blue-green inferno, swallowing all it surveys.

“Damn. I don’t want to die.” She looks around at the rising fire, with a frown. “I haven’t even kissed a boy yet.”

A creature jumps in her direction through an opening in the flame.

She panics, screaming and prematurely hitting the switch to turn the ear-splitting music on.

* * *

The two travelers look on from across the street as the home is slowly engulfed by exotic flames of heat and pounded down by foreign music.

Jamie impulsively runs toward the house as soon as he gets the binds off of the Doctor.

“No!” He stops the young man in mid-step. “Don’t go back!”

“Doctor! Th’ lass! She’s still in there!” He attempts to tug himself free from the Doctor’s grasp.

“The house is on fire, Jamie! Girl or not, you can’t survive that!”

“Doctor! Please!”

“No!”

The disheveled building creaks and crackles, bathing the surroundings in an alien blue-green glow. They watch, horrified, as it collapses in on itself minutes later.

Jamie kneels, bowing his head out of respect. “Th’ lass wasnae a Highlander, bu’ had th’ courage an’ strength o’ one.”

The Doctor puts a hand on his shoulder.

A moment of silence encompasses them both in a cold atmosphere of sober solemn.

* * *

Serenity coughs as she crawls out of the dusty cushions in the basement. “This sucks.” She rubs her forehead. “I have a headache.” The girl looks up at the rotted floorboards that managed to give away underneath her in the nick of time. Serenity brushes the dust and cobwebs off her costume and hair. “I brought the house down. Literally.”

She screams as a burning spider carcass falls through the floor. “Stupid spider!” She kicks a leg, watching it turn to ash.

Serenity looks around, hearing the squeaks and shrieks of the other monsters all around the house. “I’m leaving. I have a headache.” She throws a chair through the basement window and awkwardly climbs out, cutting various parts of her body, and spraining her ankle.

* * *

“Come Jamie, we should go,” the Doctor solemnly says, nudging his shoulder.

He pauses a moment before turning away from the ashes of the once gloriously demolition-worthy building.

* * *

Serenity inhales the smokey air, hacking it up a moment later. She realizes something. “Wait. Where’s that Highlander with my shirt,” the young lady thinks as she walks off. “I think I’ll go steal his as payment.” She limps off down the street. “I’m not going to walk around in spaghetti straps. It’s cold.”

* * *

“Ah should have saved her, Doctor. Ah should have,” Jamie scolds himself repeatedly.

The Doctor walks him through the park, avoiding the police and fire trucks roaming about. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. You tried.”

“Ah didnae try hard enough. She died a harrible, painful death. Th’ lass didnae deserve it.” He looks away, feeling sick.

“You tried your best, Jamie. That’s all anyone can ask of you.”

“Jus-“ He leans against the TARDIS, stricken with grief.

“Reminds you too much of home, doesn’t it,” the Doctor asks, more worried than curious.

“All the terrible, painful things.” He silently follows the Doctor in.

* * *

She limps to the park, resting on a bench under a streetlight. “My ankle hurts,” she complains, pulling down her sock. The girl sees a large bruise forming. She huffs an irritated breath, massaging her forehead. “And my head still hurts.” Serenity looks around. “Where did I meet them?”

She retraces her steps as best she can remember. “I’m so sleepy.” The young lady stumbles into something large and wooden. “Stupid tree.” She kicks it, forgetting that her ankle hurts on that foot. Serenity curses as loud as possible.


	7. Chapter 7

The Highlander’s sharp ears perk up. “Did ye hear tha’?”

The Doctor listens. “There’s heavy breathing outside the TARDIS.”

Jamie darts for the exit. As soon as he looks around the edge of the door, there she sits, falling asleep. His heart joyously skips a beat as he kneels before her, shaking her awake. “Lass! Wake up!”

Her eyes open slowly. “Is this heaven? Are you my guardian angel?”

“Nae, lass, bu’ Ah am here tae help ye.”

“Who is it, Jamie?” The Doctor steps out behind him.

“Look, angel boy, an old guy.” She tries to stand, but her bad ankle gives away underneath her uneven balance.

“Why don’t we take you to the TARDIS to get fixed up, then we’ll leave you wherever you wish,” the Doctor suggests as she clutches tightly to Jamie’s shoulders, while he lifts her to her feet.

She grimaces, making an audible noise of discomfort, again. “What?”

“To the TARDIS with her Jamie, quickly, before she-”

Serenity passes out in his arms, her body going limp.

* * *

Serenity comes out of her vegetable-like state, no longer sore, but a little hungry. Her first thought is to check her ankle. She is speechless at the sight of the bruise that she observed before completely healed. The young lady then realizes that she is tucked into a medical bed, a single sheet covering her, and hardly any clothes on. She sits up and looks around, her gaze falling on a sleeping Jamie in a cushy chair, covered with a blanket. Serenity hops off the bed, and starts poking around, starting with the infirmary, then moving on to places beyond the door.

* * *

“Jamie!” The Doctor violently shakes him awake. “Jamie! Wake up!”

He rubs the sleep out of his eyes, quickly standing. “Wha’s wrong, Doctor?”

“The girl, she’s gone!”

They both look at the empty medical bed.

“I don’t suppose you know where she is?”

“Nae.”

“Oh dear.”

* * *

This is the biggest closet I’ve seen in my life,” she remarks, slowly walking down the rows of clothes, slacks, shoes, and any other piece of clothing one might put on. “It’s worse than a woman’s closet.” Serenity begins rummaging through the racks, looking for something that might fit her.

* * *

The two find themselves back at the infirmary without ever having laid eyes on the missing patient.

“We know she’s not in the kitchen, library, or console room.” The Doctor stomps his foot out of frustration. “Where could she be?”

“Why would th’ lass b’ walkin’ around withou’ clothin’,” Jamie wonders, looking at the stack of neatly folded laundry at the foot of the empty bed.

“I just put those there before we left. She wouldn’t have found them when she woke up," he clarifies, plopping into the armchair at the foot of the bed. Something clicks in the back of his mind. “Jamie, we’re going to search the wardrobe, hurry!”

* * *

“This is excellent,” she thinks out loud, holding randomly appealing articles of clothing. “Anything I want.” Serenity Sparks drops the sheet covering her, and quickly dresses.

* * *

The Doctor and Jamie search high and low for Serenity, through layers and racks and old boxes of clothing, jewelry, hats, and anything else one could imagine.

“Mother-“ A body falls from the sky, into a giant pile of coats, clad in miscellaneous clothing. “Ha!” Their patient snuggly encloses her re-emerging head in a blue beanie. “Knew I’d get it!”

“Hello.” The Doctor offers her a hand out.

“Hi.” She takes his hand and helps herself up. “Who are you two guys? And where am I right now?”

“I’m the Doctor," the old man who helped her to her feet happily answers. “And this is my companion Jamie McCrimmon.” He motions to the young man in a kilt and dress with a vest.

“Hi. Scottish Highlander, right?”

“Aye.”

“Cool.” She give him a brief thumbs-up. “Where-“

“On my ship.”

“Seriously-“

“On my ship.”

“Are you drunk?”

“No, but do you believe me?”

“Nope.” She looks around. “I remember it is Halloween, so I’m assuming that you were hired by one of my friends to play a trick on me. I guess the jokes on me, so you can let me go now. Not really in the mood to go get candy tonight, anyway, don’t worry. Tell whichever one of them that hired you exactly that. Night.” She gets confused for a moment. “Wait. I remember going out already. Then where’s my candy?” She looks around.

“Jamie?”

“Aye, Doctor.”

“Would you mind helping this young lady to the infirmary?”

“Gladly.”

* * *

“My god, what are they putting in candy these days, Vodka?” Serenity feels her forehead as she sits on a medical bed, swinging her legs back and forth.

“Th’ lass is crazy, Doctor,” Jamie whispers to the old man standing next to him.

“She’s just confused, and doing a very good job of hiding her fear. She’s practically harmless,” he whispers back.

“Is that what really happened? Giant spiders, me burning down an old house, and the mayhem right now?”

Both men nod.

“Sweet!” She smiles. “I defeated giant spiders, and burnt down a house!”

“Would you like to leave,” the Doctor asks, amused.

“With all the stuff wrecked outside? No, Sir.”

“Very well then, to the console room,” he happily announces, leading the way.

Jamie offers her his arm. “Ah’ll lead ye there.”

She holds on to his elbow. “Thanks. You got a funny accent.”

* * *

Her jaw droops a little as she eyes the room. “What did you call this ship, again?”

The Doctor throws a switch and adjusts some knobs. “A Time And Relative Dimensions In Space Machine, or TARDIS for short. It’s a trans-dimensional time machine.”

“Cool.” Serenity sits on the floor, looking over the whole room. “What’s trans-dimensional mean?”

“It’s bigger in the inside than the outside. Now, where were we going before we landed on Earth, Jamie?”

“We were goin’ tae the future.”

“That’s right.” He pushes some buttons. “Here we go. The future.”

* * *

As the sirens of fire trucks and police cars race about and echo loudly through the trees of the nearest park, a grating, whining noise fades into the cold, moaning winds of an early November morning.


End file.
